Contract talk........................
I ask that you bear with me on this one. Contracts are complicated, and when you havenāt been allowed to read it, itās even more complicated to try and explain.
I had a very nice anon ask me, if I had time, to try and do a post on 5Hās contracts. I have touched upon the subject before, but not in much detail, because we donāt really know the details of the girlsā contracts. There has been plenty of speculation, but not many facts. Iāll try my best, with the information we do have, to explain the options..
We know, because Laurenās dad took to twitter, that the girls are still under their original contracts. He said the original contracts were for 5 albums. He also said, that Camila was still under the same contract. (to bad he didnāt take it upon himself to tweet out a copy of the darn thing)
So, what does that information tell us? Not much unfortunately. What we do know, is Camila, Lauren, Dinah, Normani, and Ally all signed individual contracts with Syco, through the X-Factor. Those X-Factor contracts give Simon Cowell certain rights over the acts participating on his show.
A few of those rights is, once you make it to the semi finals, you can be signed to what amounts to a developmental recording contract through a Sony label. The biggest one though, is his right , once you make the finals, to sign you to a long term recording contract through his Label, Syco.
Fifth Harmony made it to the finals, which Iām sure Simon made sure of. He already had each of them signed to individual short term deals, just for making it to the X-Factor bootcamp. Once he formed them into a group, they then had to sign an agreement, that they would each participate as a member of the Girl Group. So, once Fifth harmony made it to the finals, Simon was guaranteed, through the X-Factor contract, a recording contract with the Girl Group Fifth Harmony, if he so chose to sign them. Of course he wanted to sign them. Thatās why he formed them.
It was announced officially on January 17, 2013, that Fifth Harmony had signed a contract with Syco in a joint venture with Epic. That was pretty much all we got. Thanks to Mike, we know the contract they signed was for 5 albums. Here is where things start getting a little tricky.
There has been widespread speculation that Camila and Lauren had special solo clauses written into their contracts. If that is true, that in itself would mean, each of the girls signed a solo recording contract. Within it, an amendment stipulating they would be a member of the group Fifth Harmony, but that Camila and Laurenās had another amendment added, that gave the Labels the option to record with them as solo artists. They would have then signed the Group contract, that they made sure had a āleaving memberā clause. All these manufactured group contracts have a āleavingĀ memberā clause written in, because they intend for there to be a leaving member.
Now, did the girls sign a collective 5 album deal, or did they each sign a individual 5 album deal? That is the ultimate question. (Bear in mind, an EP is not a full length Studio album, therefore the Label has the option to NOT count it as a contracted album.) If it was a collective 5 album deal, that would be 5H1, 5H2, 5H3 and CC1 as the fourth, with one album left. That album could either be produced by Fifth Harmony, Camila, or Lauren. (if the rumors of the special clauses are correct)
If they signed individual 5 album deals, that makes it all a bit trickier. That would mean Camila has fulfilled 5H1, 5H2, and CC1, and would still owe Epic/Syco 2 more albums, unless Roger negotiated Better Together EP count as a contracted album, then she would only owe 1 more album. Same with the girls. They each have 5H1, 5H2, 5H3, so they would each owe the Labels 2 more albums as either part of Fifth Harmony or individually. Unless, of course, Dina LaPolt negotiated the BT EP count as an album, then they would each still owe 1 more album.
See what I mean. Itās all very complicated. Without seeing the actual contracts, or some good soul deciding to give us the real scoop, it could be either scenario.
I have to mention, this contract does not guarantee the girls 5 albums. It guarantees the Labels up to 5 albums, if they want them. The Labels have all the power. If the Label wants an album from their artists, they pick up the option for another album, up to the contracted amount. If the option is picked up, the artist produces an album, then the Label decides if the like it or not. If they arenāt happy with the finished product, they can send the artist back to the studio to work on it some more, or shelf it. Itās all up to the Label.
We also need to keep in mind, Syco and Epic are both owned by Sony Music Entertainment. So the one with the real rights over the girlsā recording contracts is Sony. What does that mean. Well, as long as the girls sign their solo contract with other Labels under the Sony umbrella, those albums could also count against their original 5 album contracts. Itās all up to Sony and the deals the Girlsā Ā Attorneyās have negotiated for them.
Iām going to take a moment to apologize, because this probably left a lot of you with more question than answers. Without knowing whatās in the girlsā contracts, itās hard to say with any certainty when they will be free from Syco/Epic completely. Itās really just a wait and see game, at this point.
I hope itās the scenerio I mentioned in a previous post. I really hope āCamilaā was counted as the fourth studio album, and all thatās left is the last one, or the +1, which is usually a greatest hits, or a special collection album, which the girls wouldnāt even have to be present for. Or better yet, they count the BT Ep, then they would all be done with Epic/Syco for good. We will hopefully start getting a better idea soon. With the hiatus, maybe more facts will start bubbling to the surface. Fingers crossed.
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